How is a democracy supposed to work when citizens can be criminally prosecuted for disagreeing with the government? It’s too bad that there’s nobody left outside Korea who can pressure the government here to actually allow criticism, differing opinions, and so on. But hey, when the major governments of the world are convinced they have God on their side… The national prosecution and police say they are going to criminally prosecute people involved in spreading so-called “mad cow horror stories” (gwangubyeong goedam) on the Internet, in addition to prosecuting the organizers of candlelight protests against imports of American beef. A …
Tag: Nonfunctional Systems
“Big Waves” Kill 9
Article here. There were kids around. Some of them saw their own parents swept out to sea. South Korea’s weather agency had forecast there would be strong winds and high waves in the area but did not issue any advisory… Er, did not bother, perhaps, might be a fairer description? What’s the point of having the tech and forecasting if you don’t put the word out? I mean, we even had hail advisories in my hometown, and we had hail, like, once every few years at most. I’m not saying Korea ought to be exactly like Canada. I’m saying it …
Chinese Violence in the Streets of Seoul
Last Saturday, I was heading in to Seoul to meet my friend Jeffery, and I saw some of my students at the train station, headed the same way. They’re nice kids, some Chinese exchange students, and we chatted until it was my stop. One of them asked me if I knew about the Olympic Torch Relay in Seoul the following day, and I confessed that I hadn’t heard. I’m kind of glad, too, because if I had, I might have anticipated what happened, and gone with a camera. Which would have been smashed to pieces, along with my face, by …
Nonfunctional Systems & The Art of the Avoidable Cataclysm #1: The Namdaemun Arson
An anonymous editorial in the Digital Chosunilbo asks: The pain of the Korean public will not be easy to heal. Watching the face of the nation disappear into flame, Koreans acutely felt the fear that the country they believed had grown into an economic powerhouse may be just a mirage floating above the desert sand. What would foreigners living in Seoul call Korea now? How can they trust in this country after seeing what has happened? The following is my first attempt (in what I imagine may become a series of attempts) to answer that question. The longer I’m in …
Speechmakers of Korea, beware!
Immediately on arriving in Korea, I noticed how (a) so many people seem to think that speechmaking is absolutely necessary for any function, gathering, or context, and (b) so many people seem to be bad public speakers, not making any attempt to deliver speeches that interest, involve, or relate to the audience except as something to be endured. Foreigners routinely comment on how rock bands will stop in the middle of a show and start talking… and talking… and talking… They’ll report on whole rooms of Koreans sitting in dazed, half-attentive states while some guy in a suit prattles on …